Theory
The file that lost its formulas
Meera's accountant asks for her sales "as a CSV". She clicks Save As, picks CSV, sends it, and later opens it to check: her totals are still there, but every formula is gone, the colours are gone, and only the January sheet survived, February and March vanished.
Nothing broke. CSV is a deliberately stripped-down format, and knowing exactly what it keeps and drops is a real-world (and exam) essential. First, the saving basics; then CSV's great flattening.
At a glance
Saving options
| Action | Shortcut | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Save | Ctrl+S | Overwrites the current file |
| Save As | F12 | New copy: new name, place or format |
| Save As CSV | F12 > CSV | Plain text, values only, one sheet |
| Spell Check | F7 | Flags misspelt text in cells |
Theory
A photocopy in black and white
Saving as CSV is like photocopying a colourful, multi-page report on an old black-and-white single-page machine. You keep the words and numbers, but the colours, the formulas that computed them, the images, the extra pages: all gone. CSV is the universal, everyone-can-read-it format precisely because it throws away everything fancy and keeps only plain comma-separated text.
Theory
What CSV keeps and drops
A CSV file is literally lines of text with values separated by commas:
Sugar,45,20
Rice,60,15
Keeps: the displayed values, as plain text.
Drops: formulas (only their results survive, as frozen text), all formatting, images and shapes, and every sheet except the active one, CSV holds one sheet, no formulas, no style.
Use it to move raw data between programs (accounting software, databases). Never use it as your working file, you would lose your formulas the moment you saved.
Quiz
Meera's workbook has 3 sheets, coloured headers, and formulas. She saves it as CSV and reopens it. What does she get?
- One sheet of plain values: no formulas, no colours, other sheets gone
- All 3 sheets exactly as before
- The formulas preserved but colours removed
- An error, CSV cannot hold numbers
Show the answer
One sheet of plain values: no formulas, no colours, other sheets gone
CSV is plain text: it keeps only the active sheet's displayed values, dropping formulas, formatting and the other two sheets. This one-way flattening catches everyone once. Rule: export to CSV to SHARE raw data, but keep your real work in .xlsx. "What is lost when saving as CSV?" is a standard short-answer question.
Theory
Workbook protection and linking
Protect Workbook (Review tab) locks the structure: no one can add, delete, rename, move or hide sheets. This is different from last lesson's Protect Sheet, which locked cells within a sheet. Structure vs contents.
Linking spreadsheets: a formula can reference a cell in another file:
=[Feb.xlsx]Sheet1!B2
Now Meera's yearly summary pulls February's total live from the February file. Edit February, and the summary updates. Twelve month files feeding one master, no retyping.
Think first
Protect Sheet or Protect Workbook?
Meera wants to stop her cousin from DELETING the February tab entirely (not just editing cells in it). Which protection does she need, and why is it not the one from last lesson?
Show the answer
Protect Workbook. Last lesson's Protect Sheet guards cells inside a sheet; it cannot stop someone deleting the whole tab. Protecting the workbook locks the structure, adding, deleting, renaming, hiding sheets. Rule of thumb: Protect Sheet = the cells; Protect Workbook = the tabs. Exams contrast these two directly, so keep them separate.
Watch out
Where marks leak
Thinking CSV keeps formulas or multiple sheets, it keeps neither, only the active sheet's values as text. Confusing Save (overwrite) with Save As (new copy). And mixing Protect Workbook (structure: tabs) with Protect Sheet (contents: cells), a guaranteed comparison question. Also note a linked file: if you rename or move Feb.xlsx, the link breaks, a real gotcha worth mentioning in answers.
Theory
CSV is your bridge to databases
That plain comma-separated format is exactly how data moves between spreadsheets and databases: you will export a CSV in Unit 3/4 to load records into SQL, and Python's data tools (BCA204) read CSVs constantly. CSV's very plainness is its superpower, every program on earth can read it. Next: printing the sheet properly, print area, preview, and quick print.
Summary
Key takeaways
- Save overwrites; Save As makes a new copy (new name, location or format).
- CSV is plain comma-separated text: keeps only the active sheet's values, drops formulas, formatting and other sheets.
- Use CSV to move raw data between programs; keep real work in .xlsx.
- Protect Sheet locks CELLS within a sheet; Protect Workbook locks the STRUCTURE (tabs).
- Linked spreadsheets pull live values across files (=[Feb.xlsx]Sheet1!B2); renaming the source breaks the link.
- Memory hook: CSV is a black-and-white single-page photocopy of your workbook.